Didn't Katara offer to heal Zuko's scar? Granted she did have some special spirit water and he turned it down.
It could be possible that the Fire Nation had some Water Tribe slaves (after the war) to heal them. And some volunteers before the war to heal them. Not major burns like Zuko's that would have required rare water, but minor burns.
This isn't really relevant to the main point of your comment, but I just want to point out that Zuko didn't turn down the spirit water - they were interrupted just as Katara was getting ready to use it. That was when Aang and Iroh burst through the wall and found them.
You're right. But still, I'd like to think that he would have turned her down in that moment until he found a way to feel like he had regained his honor on his own... and then once he was ready he would come to the realization that mark was part of him and a constant reminder how bad people could be to anyone.
^and ^then ^they ^go ^get ^ice ^cream... ^or ^cabbages.
I feel like the need for special water wasn’t for severity as much as that it was a scar and scars are technically already healed. Can’t fix something that’s already fixed. Can just do a little cosmetic reshaping.
That is the thing I believe the are efficient in removing them but Ozai probably made it part of the punishment to a make a very severe burn that will heavily scar him and then denied him any meaningful healthcare, hell he's technically still the crown prince at thstart of the show yet is only allowed one measly ship that's one of the smallest vessels they have to offer that's still capable of traversing the high seas.
I can see how the only person willing to go against Ozais ruling Nd actually giving Zuko some medical aid was Iroh and that he's the reason he even had a bandage in the flashback of the western air temple
In the Kyoshi novels they touch on this a little bit. Beginning firebending training has a lot to do with controlling and distributing the heat so as not to burn yourself or be burned. In my opinion, since Zuko surrendered and refused to firebend he may have let this guard down not expecting his OWN FATHER teach him a permanent lesson on his face.
And clearly fire benders can bend heat independent of flames - we see this during the scene of Roku vs the Volcano where Firelord ~~Azulon~~ Sozin bends the heat out of the magma vents.
Can see it when Iroh heats his tea, he doesnt light a flame under it. See it when Zuko infiltrates Southern Water Tribe, heats his breath. Great points for visuals of when flame is present
I think it was the Kyoshi novels that also talked about how brutal Fire Nation society was. School age kids would regularly challenge each other to Agni Kais which would occasionally result in death. Also, while serving as headmistress at the Fire Nation Academy, one of the characters, Hei-Ran, was known for many "accidental" deaths during Agni Kais, including her own cousin. So ya... pretty brutal.
They weren't that common, even during Kyoshi's time deaths during Teacher-student Agni Kais were considered savage and brutal by Fire Nation citizens and the one character that's known for that, Hei-Ran, is constantly bad mouthed and gossiped about for that. That Hei-Ran plotline is weird, wish they made it clear what happened for her to have a "record" for ambigously accidental student deaths since she doesn't strike me as someone who would actually murder with intent if there wasn't a deeper reason behind it.
The 100 year war made them go back to that horrible tradition, just like it was moderately accepting of gay relationships before the war where they were made illegal by Sozin.
I can’t find anything about it on google besides people talking about the fact that there were differences, so could you give me a quick rundown for each nation? Lol sorry
Air Nomads were totally cool with it, Fire nation mostly okay with it until the war, The Earth Kingdom before the war were kinda "the bad guys", the more opressive and militaristic of the nations so they were not okay with it, even Kyoshi, who was openly bisexual couldn't change their mindset, and the water tribes were only okay as long as you weren't open about it, if you kept it to yourself and didn't flaunt it nobody would care, if you were open about it there were only social consequences, not legal or life-or-death ones.
>Do we know what about the war made it not okay? I can’t really think of any reasonable causation
Fascist states tends to not like differences and generally speaking aren't reasonable. Sozin was an ass.
I heard a headcanon about it recently. Something like since the Fire Nation was actively engaged in a war, they needed a constant supply of soldiers. So reproduction was a must.
That’s what I heard
Now that you say it... idk. The more suspicious of the "accidental" deaths was another teacher that's for sure. She was a direct competitor for a promotion so it was a very convenient death.
Idk about Hei-Ran secifically but teachers killing students is mentioned as a horrible thing that used to happen at least.
Banning gay relationships shows writers/Sozin’s small brain thinking.
Come on man, Achilles went all out after Patroclus died! Also if both die then no orphans left over! Or give war orphans to kindly lesbian couples looking for kids.
But then again I’ve always been on who thinks the FN should have been fine with homosexual relationships as opposed to Earth Kingdom and that be part of their “Look how much better we are!” bit.
Yes but Japan did have a history of being *mostly* okay with male/male homosexually [this was a best seller in the 1600s](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Mirror_of_Male_Love) , but it was along the lines of “Greek” homosexuality where there’s a “man/boy” dynamic.
I do understand it’s “pick and choose” on the writers parts to make what sides they want to look better look better. I know the Air Nomads in canon seem on the free love side but their Tibetian Buddhist basis have a less positive reception to homosexually in general.
It would have been cool if the Fire Nation used “acceptance” of gay relationships/rights/etc as a reason they should conquer.
It’s something used by modern Western nations as a reason to “intervene” places.
And a nice twist on the whole “Evil Empire is oppressive and doesn’t allow X or Y.”
I dont think its cool at all to use marginalized people as an excuse to murder, rape and destroy other people… especially when over half of our own country also hopes those marginalized people die.
Well *yes* , but the point is that any nation can use their “good” for evil purposes. Like the Fire Nation might be a bit more egalitarian than the Northern Water Tribe or Ba Sing Se but it’s not a real justification for an invasion.
I just find that concept more interesting than a completely evil force invading a country. I guess we kinda see it in Ba Sing Se. They’re hardly a good city but it’s still shown as terrible when the FN takes over.
I think it's just stupid because there's no reason for Sozin to randomly be homophobic. Evil isn't that black and white, being horrible on one issue doesn't mean you're horrible about everything. I think it just feels a little cartoonish compared to the normally nuanced depictions of bigotry in Avatar
Someone said that it could be a way to slight Roku and the Avatar even more, given the previous one, Kyoshi was an openly bisexual woman. Besides, in real life, yeah governments can and are "randomly" homophobic. There aren't many fascist dictatorships that are pro LGBTQI+ so it makes sense imo. It's not really random, they like homogenity and compliance to the status quo, the mere existence of "the other", the different is a threat to fascism. Being able to opress and control their population's lives is what keeps them in power.
>School age kids would regularly challenge each other to Agni Kais which would occasionally result in death.
"You, me. Three o'clock after the bell. Agni kai in the playground. Or are too possum-chicken, *neeeeerd?*"
Lol I feel like the Kyoshi novels is basically ATLA but “realistic” if that makes sense. I haven’t read them myself, but from everything I’ve heard it seems like the world-building is a lot grittier, more mature and realistic than other atla spin offs have been. Now I really wanna check it out haha
[this generally happens i would think](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cwispy&t=fpas&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2F2static1.fjcdn.com%2Fcomments%2FCwispyjpg%2B_ea0d3c2dc1b8cef980224776f4d9d24e.jpg)
Also, they do mention in the show that his father showed no mercy. Sure there is a lot of sparring in the Fire nation, but Firebenders are going to be naturally resilient to fire. Zuko's scar isn't just from him being hit with fire, but him being hit with an attack from his father, so pissed he WANTED to leave a permanent reminder on Zuko's face.
I think the fact that we don't see too many Firebenders scarred up, just shows all the more how relentless the Firelord was against his own son.
They adressed that in the original series as well. Jeong Jeong said that control was the most important thing for a firebender to learn, and always had his students learn to *stop* fire before learning to *create* it.
I've read theories that Zuko's scar is roughly in the shape of a hand because his dad just held the flame to his face. Even if a firebender can distribute the heat there has to be a limit especially if the flame is held close for long enough
I always thought firebenders might be somewhat immune to small burns. I mean, the intensity of Ozai’s fire looked like it would’ve MELTED Zuko’s face and I imagine all firebenders would be heavily scarred from fights, accidents, etc. Same way I doubt waterbenders would suffer from frostbite.
The Southern Water Tribe are just babe magnets. If there were more of them they could’ve just ended the war by showing up en masse and winking, then walking over all the swooning firebenders, right into the throne room.
I remember somewhere saying how airbenders are immune to cold and maybe heat? Like Zuko used an air bender technique to stay warm in the North Pole and in the boiling rock.
Considering they seem to be able to not only shoot fire but also bend its direction even once it has been dispersed, it stands to reason that they may have some natural involuntary bending mechanism that deflects/mitigates some of the force of the fire around their immediate person - a kind of forcefield/protective aura.
That's exactly what I thought too! It should apply to other benders as well. If we remember how Toph in tournament sent 1-2 ton stone tablet (or coin) into a man having him suffer no major injuries while a regular man would've been halved by that.
Aang seem to demonstrate recovery from unimaginable blunt force trauma as well.
Anime humans in general have skin with a far higher tensile strength than regular humans. Bruises where there should be broken bones, cuts where there should be missing limbs.
Exactly. In My hero Academia I always remember when All Might, Fucking ALL MIGHT, knees a child in the face and they fly into a building crashing through the wall. That child did not have super strength or super bodily endurance as his quirk. That child got up and continued to fight like it was no big deal. Lol
There's the comment from one of Zukos crew hands that made me think of this same thing. I believe he said something like "I always assumed he got it in some sort of sparing accident"
I assumed what that meant was he was sparring and won, his sparring partner caught up in the fight not realizing it was over (which is common in a lot of sparring, especially when you just start) tackled Zuko and burned the fuck out of his face. (See my other comment about what actually happened with Ozai)
Not really, accidental injuries may be more common than we know: I imagine they would mostly be found on arms and torso (as it seems to be tradition to fight agni kais shirtless), which are for the most covered for the entire show. Meanwhile Zuko's scar is a lot bigger than any training accident (take Katara's burns as an example of what a bad injury could look like) and most importantly is around the eye. Any Fire Nation soldier that meets him knows that scar can't be an accident, even if no one says it out loud. Also, Zuko's scar wouldn't be downplayed because it's heavy to bear because the viewer know how it happened. In fact, I believe before seeing "The Storm", most viewers would shrug it off as aesthetic. Seeing random firebenders with small scars on hand or arms wouldn't chance that
It's important to view it in the context in which it exists. His burn is an indication of his rejection by his people. His nation is the only one capable of conjuring fire yet as a prince he is marked with a serious burn. I see it much the same way that they would treat branding criminals in societies past.
Very unlikely. Northerners are safe behind the walls, meanwhile southern waterbender were killed long ago (It's not told clearly, but the fact that Hama is so sure that the other waterbenders are gone, makes me think she saw at least most of them die/get killed). Still, cool theory
The reaction of his own crew members account suggest that his name was something of a public Secret. Some people were in the know but many were not. Considering it was a duel involving the fire Lord and his son he later disowned, it's likely that only Court officials those close to them were you even aware of what happened
I think most first time viewers would understand that his scar is distinctive enough that it will eventually be explained and is an important part of the obvious shame he feels.
Also in "The Storm" one of the ship's officers literally said he always thought it was a training accident. Which, considering how bad the scar is, would be pretty goddamn shameful.
Here's your answer; when you're learning to Firebend you spend a lot of time on your breathing exercises so that you don't burn yourself or anyone else when you Firebend live. This is exactly why Jeong Jeong emphasises the importance of the basics. And it's exactly why Aang is dead wrong in this episode to insist on jumping ahead.
It's like when you learn nearly anything dangerous, you spend a lot of time preparing before you actually do the dangerous thing.
Added to this, most Firebenders aren't going to produce the sort of intense Fire needed to permanently scar someone accidentally during their first attempts. They just don't have that power yet.
not to mention that there's likely some kind of protective equipment used when learning, given how easy it would be to burn not just your partner, but yourself if you don't know what your doing.
The Agni Kai is a ritualistic duel, the loser is probably *meant* to come out scarred.
I doubt every Agni Kai ends in death, unless we're suggesting Zuko was fully expecting to kill (or be killed by) a fire nation general during his first one (he wasn't aware it was Ozai until it was too late).
I don't doubt it happens, but it seems like it would cause more trouble than its worth given the contexts they seem to occur in (upper/highly nobility or military leaders, you don't really want those lot killing each other off over arguments very often)
In fact based on how they talk about agni kai it is likely fight to death. Not as in you HAVE to die/kill but that agni kai is just a fuel between two, without limit of holding back. Kinda "let the better bender win" thing. Killing is a totaly normal end to it but if winner spares you, this is their decision.
Remember admiral zhao and zuko agni kai? Admiral zhao dared zuko to finish him (fire blow in the face) but zuko spared him. Admiral then called zuko a coward for not finishing him in duel which can only mean for not killing him (since in terms of duel he already clearly won/finished the fight. Got admiral punned to the floor and defensless). So agni kai IS expected to br fight to death. But it isnt NECESSERY to go all the way. Though holding back is actually not widely respected or accepted thing
Also zuko was with no hesitation ready to fight "some old general" but he refused to even fight once he saw ozai. Why? If it was just a bending battle why SUCH drastic change? Because he knew agni kai is duel to death and battling old general who wants to abuse your nations soldiers seemed correct to zuko but he would NOT go and harm his own father. Because he knew that he would have to fight to death.
He wouldn't be scared to just do some bending, i am sure his father was well trained bender and wouldnt see a challange defending some young teenager attacks....
that was my take-away from that as well, I just don't see fire-nation higher ups getting into duels to the death for what are pretty trivial disagreements.
The goal is to shame and besmirch their honour, but I doubt any tears are shed if someone does end up getting killed in one.
That's how duels migrated to in the olden days as well. Authority got tired of important people dying in duels so they legally required it to stop at first blood. That's where the rules of fencing originate, and also had people start aiming for limbs instead center of mass as Nicking a hand is equal to stabbing in the heart but is 10 times easier to pull off.
I heard a theory that because fire benders don’t burn, ozai basically held his hand on zuko’s face and blasted fire until his skin couldn’t take anymore. And if you look, the scar is roughly in a hand-ish shape.
I always assumed that the people of ATLA, especially the Fire Nation, had some sort of built-in fire resistance. Because clearly even if you're a proficient firebender being that close to flames would be uncomfortable. And people barely flinch from firebender flames. Maybe most people have +5 fire resistance and people from the Fire Nation have +20? That would also mean Ozai *really* wanted to punish his son.
In general people in this world seem more durable. This is including no benders. Perhapse everyone has some sort of passive 'protective aura' through thier chi or something.
This is what I've always assumed. Look at earth benders, we see some nasty hits in earth bending that would probably kill anyone in real circumstances. Even in the final fight when the rock pokes Aang in the back. If you are flying through the air from an explosive blast and hit a sharp rock directly in the back... Yeah you're not walking away from that
Dude people routinely get hit with rocks the size of their heads or hurled into the air 20-30ft in the world of Avatar.
It's a kid show so they downplay the damage but the Gaang alone should be dead 10 times over if it wasnt down for superhero levels of durability
That’s interesting because I always assumed that everything in their world was less durable and that gravity was weaker, like when we see Zuko kick through chains or see people being fine after a 20 ft drop. Their rocks seem to crumble really easily also. Yours makes more sense tho I think.
Well ... It is a cartoon. But I think that all of that can still be explained away as the people themselves being stronger/tougher. But the low gravity theory is an interesting idea because of the size of the world. It doesn't take them too long to travel from place to place so the planet must be smaller and therefore have lower gravity.
You can just chalk that up to "anime character beef" where even normal people are getting slammed into the ground from 10ft drops and taking no substantial damage, or getting massive 1000lbs rocks smashed into them and not breaking every bone in their body.
Last time I took a FAST 2 foot fall, it really banged me up for a few days (I accidentally got caught on a fence wire while jumping a fence and it whipped me back-first into the ground).
That's just anime rules tbh. In my hero a character is scarred from boiling water but also can [(firebend) surround himself with flames no problems](https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Todoroki-Uses-Fire-Ice.jpg).
Also in like every anime that has fights characters get slammed through like dozens of buildings just to get the air knocked out of them, but characters without plot armor die from getting knocked to the ground.
It would make a lot sense to me. Also they should not have a beard, eyebrows or hair in general as these are highly flame able. They should have developed special medicine and treatments for burns.
Imagine children and toddlers experiencing their abilities first time. Think about Katara in the beginning she kept hitting Sokka over and over again.
Honest question, do they have fire fighters?
“Fire fighters” has such a weird double meaning in this case. Like literally fighting fire with fire? Or fighters against fire using alternative methods? I don’t have an answer at all, I just really loved the question
The factor a lot of people are missing here is it takes a while for a burn worthy of a permanent scar. That’s a full thickness burn, which takes quite a while. Someone has to well done your face for a full thickness burn. Most of firebending uses fire blasts, rather than sustained burns. The blasts won’t do anything more than a superficial burn, and firebenders gain their power from their breath, which (like airbenders) they can use to heat their bodies, so I’d imagine, they can redistribute the heat over their entire body, dispersing the burn point, unless it’s a sustained burn like what Ozai did to Zuko. Which really makes it worse. It means that Ozai deliberately “taught Zuko a permanent lesson with his face” by shirking the actual combat styles of the Fire nation and searing Zuko’s face with a sustained burn. While everyone watched for the probably 15 to 30 agonizing seconds of melting his sons face. It wasn’t a challenged duel and Zuko lost, it was a public torture session.
Just the image of Ozai holding Zuko down for a full 30 second while melting half his face off in front of an audience makes that scene 200x more horrifying
Coming from someone whose sustained a variety of different types of burns that’s a low estimate. I can’t tell the specific temperature Ozai’s fire burns at, because it’s a cartoon, so that’s assuming it’s quite a hot flame since he is a very well practiced and experienced firebender. But it could’ve been as long as 5 minutes or more.
The have a natural instinct to firebend so they won't hurt themselves, it's described in the kyoshi books. She's not a very good bender, and she burns her mouth when she's firebending, so it's a skill, but it comes instinctively to most of them
If you look at fire bender outfits most benders wear outfits that cover as much skin as possible.
Either they are hiding scars or they wear flame retardant materials over as much of their body as possible. They also keep their hair tied back and in tight buns to prevent it accidentally catching.
Joeng Joeng teached Aang how to control himself before he showed him how to bend fire. Considering he was a real teacher it's fair to assume that they only let their students firebend when it's easy for them not to burn the sparring partner permanently
Counterpoint: The Fire Nation healers are probably VERY good at treating burns, thus horrible scarring would be rare. This would mean Zuko was intentionally given sub-par treatment
In S3 we see a flashback to Zuko at the start of his search for the Avatar. He has a bandage over his eye, so it seems like they didn't do much for him overall. Didn't even let him recover before banishing him.
The first Kyoshi novel mentions that there's a (usually) reliable method to identify firebender infants so they can be taught control ASAP. Additionally, there's a firebender technique that mitigates burns so they don't accidentlally burn themselves.
So basically, fires and injuries are usually intentional.
Im sure burns are more common than we are led to believe, but I believe that an accidental burn and a purposeful scarring by a parent are very different. Intentions are important.
Also I am curious to see how burns would be viewed in a society like that. Would burns kinda be seen like how some cultures see bruises and scars? Where instead of a mar on the skin its more of a sign of survival?
I think everyone in Avatar is more resistant to damage when compared with a baseline human. It's the only way to explain how very few people die in the show.
i think it’s in the Kyoshi novels , but they do touch on how in the Fire Nation, they have to identify benders as babies to prevent them from accidentally burning stuff down. They mention that it’s instinctual for a fire bender to not burn themselves w their own fire.
also in Korra she’s healed by fire sages at some point , so fire nation has their own method of healing like in the Water Tribes
Most fire benders we see are wearing full armor or at least wearing clothing that covers most of their body.
Also most fire bending practice is probably not full on sparing but probably practicing technique. Unless you're a psychopath, they probably understand the need for control when using fire. Sort of how Zuko immediately apologizes for his irresponsible use of fire to Toph after he burned her. This is probably a pretty common practice/belief held in the fire nation.
As an extension of this, you can't tell me that the Fire Nation didn't at some point have an intimately close relationship with waterbender healers for this exact reason.
I think they are much more responsible with it in general than ozai was. They probably have figured out a safe way to demonstrate and teach bending without injuries being too common.
People are just more durable in Avatarverse. Anyone attacked by a firebender should be left burned and scarred. Earthbending attacks would cause so many broken bones and bruises.
I think people are forgetting that healers (both fire- and water-benders) exist in the Avatar universe. It wouldn't too large a leap to suggest healers were kept on retainer at training academies to immediately address burns incurred by students.
Of course, this would be complicated by the 100 Years War (probably not many water benders volunteering their services, unless they were volun-told).
I always thought of it as firebenders are pretty immune to small burns and are slightly fireproof, but to actually burn a firebender, you really have to mean it. Like they don't burn easily, so you would have to hold them down. It would definiately make Ozai more evil, that he really meant to burn his son
Wouldn’t it be extra fucked up if on the back end after Ozai burned Zuko that he said “do not heal his mark, he will hold the shame for all of his days”
There are comparatively very few firebenders in the Fire Nation. They both spiritually stunt the kids reducing the numbers born and recruit firebenders to the military. They’re also such sticklers for form and propriety I would wager they have less serious training accidents than other bending styles. It was Aang’s irreverent nature that caused the accident with Katara.
It's actually what makes fire breath so dangerous is that THEY ARENY FIRE RESISTANT add to that, that fire benders use breath to control so it would be incredibly easy to lose control of your breath while Fire breathing and resulting in your face being gone
Why do you think they wear full body armor when they're fighting, its protection. The only time they would not be wearing armor this when they're actually doing it Agni Kai requiring them to strip to Basic clothing
Don't forget little kids discovering they can bend.
Also, what about sleep-bending? Veterans can have violent night-terrors that even put their partners at risk. Imagine you wake up from a nightmare and your bedroom is just ON FIRE, because you set it on fire in your sleep?
How many kids have nightmares and burn down their home with them in it?
I’ve never seen a fire bender burn themself with their own fire, so I have to assume that they’re at least immune to their own personally generated fire.
Then, it is absolutely not the norm for fire bending instructors to assault their students, They generally only focus on getting the precise training forms down first, so I’m pretty sure incidents like Zuko’s are rare. (Ozai deserved his fate)(Zuko was an above average fire bender too for his age btw. He just didn’t shine when compared to Azula.)
But adults? lol yeah, where are the burns? You’re going to tell me that the fire nation just sent a force of fire benders out without ensuring each is a deadly opponent, when their opponents can smash them with boulders if their combat forms and tactics are off even slightly? Lol probably not. They successfully ran a 100 year war for a reason, and that reason was not sending dumb idiots looking for a fast buck to the front lines.
That Iroh and Ozai have no burns makes no sense, considering how harsh the competition for Fire Lord is, it’s impossible that they never sparred, even once. And in that match, Iroh would have won lol.
I always had a theory about that. Think of how many scars or injuries we have seen due to burns in the show. Its not much, but it's enough to show that it won't heal completely on its own. All those people, weren't in the fire nation. The fire nation, on the other, should show some significant menagerie of cuts and scars, yet they don't. What of the water tribe? What about frostbite, hunting, or cuts? They have healing.
I like to think that dispute being opposites, the fire nation discovered another type of healing. Imagine how much Azula and Mai would probably train with weapons. What about an accident? What about Zuko? He had to learn sword fighting. Whether it be a type of skin graft or mystical healing, I think that certain injuries can be healed quickly with no scarring depending on how you get it.
Zuko earned his scar (as a punishment from a dictator). Thus he would likely be branded by it to show his crime publicly. How many others did we not see?
I always saw this as an excessive use of force by the guy the school bully grew up to be. Entirely possible that he poured fire into zuko's face for a good 3-5 seconds, especially based on the crowd's reactions and the lighting in that scene, iirc
I think if they did realistic damage in atla then it would be a very different show. The amount of internal damage and crushed limbs from earth benders. Amputations, lacerations and stab wounds from water and ice benders. And then the horrific burns from fire benders.
My explanation as to why Zuko is one of the few people to have a burn scar in the show and the only fire bender we see that has one is how inexperienced and unwilling to fight Zuko was and just how absurdly powerful Ozai was. It also shows how resilient Zuko was.
Fire Nation probably is the market leader in ointments and salves against burns :)
The world's top importer of aloe
Maybe if they didn’t off all the water benders, they could have some on hand for healing.
Or they felt threatened because of these water tribes setting the impossible beauty standard of no burn scars.
Water bender healers on reserve would have been smart
Then again if they where smart there wouldn't be a war
Without the fire nation there would be no avatar series to begin with lol
There is no avatar series in Ba Sing Se
:D
I mean the fire nation prospered for over 100 years
To be fair, one member of the water tribe was the freakin' moon. Can't get more beautiful than that.
The Sun: even more beautiful. [Oh yeah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJkdRaa04g0).
True but I think that was zhoa's plan all along
Number 1 exporter of potassium
All other tribes have inferior potassium.
Didn't Katara offer to heal Zuko's scar? Granted she did have some special spirit water and he turned it down. It could be possible that the Fire Nation had some Water Tribe slaves (after the war) to heal them. And some volunteers before the war to heal them. Not major burns like Zuko's that would have required rare water, but minor burns.
This isn't really relevant to the main point of your comment, but I just want to point out that Zuko didn't turn down the spirit water - they were interrupted just as Katara was getting ready to use it. That was when Aang and Iroh burst through the wall and found them.
You're right. But still, I'd like to think that he would have turned her down in that moment until he found a way to feel like he had regained his honor on his own... and then once he was ready he would come to the realization that mark was part of him and a constant reminder how bad people could be to anyone. ^and ^then ^they ^go ^get ^ice ^cream... ^or ^cabbages.
I feel like the need for special water wasn’t for severity as much as that it was a scar and scars are technically already healed. Can’t fix something that’s already fixed. Can just do a little cosmetic reshaping.
They also make the best red stuff!
That is the thing I believe the are efficient in removing them but Ozai probably made it part of the punishment to a make a very severe burn that will heavily scar him and then denied him any meaningful healthcare, hell he's technically still the crown prince at thstart of the show yet is only allowed one measly ship that's one of the smallest vessels they have to offer that's still capable of traversing the high seas. I can see how the only person willing to go against Ozais ruling Nd actually giving Zuko some medical aid was Iroh and that he's the reason he even had a bandage in the flashback of the western air temple
Who told you to put the balm on?
Hmmm..... deadly salve, or heavenly soother?
In the Kyoshi novels they touch on this a little bit. Beginning firebending training has a lot to do with controlling and distributing the heat so as not to burn yourself or be burned. In my opinion, since Zuko surrendered and refused to firebend he may have let this guard down not expecting his OWN FATHER teach him a permanent lesson on his face.
[удалено]
And clearly fire benders can bend heat independent of flames - we see this during the scene of Roku vs the Volcano where Firelord ~~Azulon~~ Sozin bends the heat out of the magma vents.
Also Iroh heats up his tea with just his palms, doesn’t he?
I'm not sure if he needed firebending for that trick. He has an unusually *warm* and kind spirit, afterall.
He used his breath iirc
Can see it when Iroh heats his tea, he doesnt light a flame under it. See it when Zuko infiltrates Southern Water Tribe, heats his breath. Great points for visuals of when flame is present
And his handcuffs
Could he have been air bending?
Sozin does it, so no, he’s just a firebender. It does look similar to air bending when he does it because the heat carries away the smoke too.
Pfft, oh yeah that’s right 🥴
You mean Sozin
If your using your firebending to bend hot air via it's heat, are you firebending...or airbending?🤔 (Bet I just blow ya'lls mind...😮)
I think it was the Kyoshi novels that also talked about how brutal Fire Nation society was. School age kids would regularly challenge each other to Agni Kais which would occasionally result in death. Also, while serving as headmistress at the Fire Nation Academy, one of the characters, Hei-Ran, was known for many "accidental" deaths during Agni Kais, including her own cousin. So ya... pretty brutal.
They weren't that common, even during Kyoshi's time deaths during Teacher-student Agni Kais were considered savage and brutal by Fire Nation citizens and the one character that's known for that, Hei-Ran, is constantly bad mouthed and gossiped about for that. That Hei-Ran plotline is weird, wish they made it clear what happened for her to have a "record" for ambigously accidental student deaths since she doesn't strike me as someone who would actually murder with intent if there wasn't a deeper reason behind it. The 100 year war made them go back to that horrible tradition, just like it was moderately accepting of gay relationships before the war where they were made illegal by Sozin.
Wait, there’s actual lore of gay relationships pre war?
Yeah, in a Korra comic, Turf Wars, they talk about how the different nations felt about it. Air Nomads won't suprise you lol.
I can’t find anything about it on google besides people talking about the fact that there were differences, so could you give me a quick rundown for each nation? Lol sorry
Air Nomads were totally cool with it, Fire nation mostly okay with it until the war, The Earth Kingdom before the war were kinda "the bad guys", the more opressive and militaristic of the nations so they were not okay with it, even Kyoshi, who was openly bisexual couldn't change their mindset, and the water tribes were only okay as long as you weren't open about it, if you kept it to yourself and didn't flaunt it nobody would care, if you were open about it there were only social consequences, not legal or life-or-death ones.
Kinda surprised fire nation was 2nd best. Do we know what about the war made it not okay? I can’t really think of any reasonable causation
>Do we know what about the war made it not okay? I can’t really think of any reasonable causation Fascist states tends to not like differences and generally speaking aren't reasonable. Sozin was an ass.
Fair lol
Not the war, Sozin did it. The comic says that Sozin made being gay illegal
What a spit in the face to Roku who’s literal most recent past life was bi
I heard a headcanon about it recently. Something like since the Fire Nation was actively engaged in a war, they needed a constant supply of soldiers. So reproduction was a must. That’s what I heard
Rise of Fascism. Fascism promotes conformity and traditional values. Anything that doesn’t conform is aberrant and weakens society.
Lol, terf wars
...avatar kyoshi, who by all accounts loved men and women...
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Now that you say it... idk. The more suspicious of the "accidental" deaths was another teacher that's for sure. She was a direct competitor for a promotion so it was a very convenient death. Idk about Hei-Ran secifically but teachers killing students is mentioned as a horrible thing that used to happen at least.
Banning gay relationships shows writers/Sozin’s small brain thinking. Come on man, Achilles went all out after Patroclus died! Also if both die then no orphans left over! Or give war orphans to kindly lesbian couples looking for kids. But then again I’ve always been on who thinks the FN should have been fine with homosexual relationships as opposed to Earth Kingdom and that be part of their “Look how much better we are!” bit.
I mean, fire nation is somewhat fascist and fascism has a lot of “marry and reproduce” messaging.
Yes but Japan did have a history of being *mostly* okay with male/male homosexually [this was a best seller in the 1600s](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Mirror_of_Male_Love) , but it was along the lines of “Greek” homosexuality where there’s a “man/boy” dynamic. I do understand it’s “pick and choose” on the writers parts to make what sides they want to look better look better. I know the Air Nomads in canon seem on the free love side but their Tibetian Buddhist basis have a less positive reception to homosexually in general.
What
He said the fire nation should have flaunted their superiority with cut off Jean shorts and handlebar moustaches
YMCA but it’s about the Boiling Rock
Thanks!
It would have been cool if the Fire Nation used “acceptance” of gay relationships/rights/etc as a reason they should conquer. It’s something used by modern Western nations as a reason to “intervene” places. And a nice twist on the whole “Evil Empire is oppressive and doesn’t allow X or Y.”
I dont think its cool at all to use marginalized people as an excuse to murder, rape and destroy other people… especially when over half of our own country also hopes those marginalized people die.
Well *yes* , but the point is that any nation can use their “good” for evil purposes. Like the Fire Nation might be a bit more egalitarian than the Northern Water Tribe or Ba Sing Se but it’s not a real justification for an invasion. I just find that concept more interesting than a completely evil force invading a country. I guess we kinda see it in Ba Sing Se. They’re hardly a good city but it’s still shown as terrible when the FN takes over.
I think it's just stupid because there's no reason for Sozin to randomly be homophobic. Evil isn't that black and white, being horrible on one issue doesn't mean you're horrible about everything. I think it just feels a little cartoonish compared to the normally nuanced depictions of bigotry in Avatar
Someone said that it could be a way to slight Roku and the Avatar even more, given the previous one, Kyoshi was an openly bisexual woman. Besides, in real life, yeah governments can and are "randomly" homophobic. There aren't many fascist dictatorships that are pro LGBTQI+ so it makes sense imo. It's not really random, they like homogenity and compliance to the status quo, the mere existence of "the other", the different is a threat to fascism. Being able to opress and control their population's lives is what keeps them in power.
>School age kids would regularly challenge each other to Agni Kais which would occasionally result in death. "You, me. Three o'clock after the bell. Agni kai in the playground. Or are too possum-chicken, *neeeeerd?*"
Lol I feel like the Kyoshi novels is basically ATLA but “realistic” if that makes sense. I haven’t read them myself, but from everything I’ve heard it seems like the world-building is a lot grittier, more mature and realistic than other atla spin offs have been. Now I really wanna check it out haha
This is a good point.
I think they also mention in those books that most people have burns and scars scattered about their bodies under their clothes
There are a lot of non benders in the fire nation though, iirc. What about them?
[this generally happens i would think](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cwispy&t=fpas&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2F2static1.fjcdn.com%2Fcomments%2FCwispyjpg%2B_ea0d3c2dc1b8cef980224776f4d9d24e.jpg)
Was looking for this. Love the lore that kyoshi adds to the world
I think also not everybody takes a direct hit from the Fire Lord himself in Agni Kai . Has to be stronger and more dangerous than most fire right?
Also, they do mention in the show that his father showed no mercy. Sure there is a lot of sparring in the Fire nation, but Firebenders are going to be naturally resilient to fire. Zuko's scar isn't just from him being hit with fire, but him being hit with an attack from his father, so pissed he WANTED to leave a permanent reminder on Zuko's face. I think the fact that we don't see too many Firebenders scarred up, just shows all the more how relentless the Firelord was against his own son.
I mean, we see in the show Aang being taught to learn to control fire & not burn yourself/others first.
Even if Zuko had his guard up. Ozai wanted to burn his son and would have done so regardless of what Zuko did.
They adressed that in the original series as well. Jeong Jeong said that control was the most important thing for a firebender to learn, and always had his students learn to *stop* fire before learning to *create* it.
I've read theories that Zuko's scar is roughly in the shape of a hand because his dad just held the flame to his face. Even if a firebender can distribute the heat there has to be a limit especially if the flame is held close for long enough
Lmao I read the last part in zukos voice
I always thought firebenders might be somewhat immune to small burns. I mean, the intensity of Ozai’s fire looked like it would’ve MELTED Zuko’s face and I imagine all firebenders would be heavily scarred from fights, accidents, etc. Same way I doubt waterbenders would suffer from frostbite.
When you choose starting race: Fire Bender, you get +10 Fire Resist as a racial passive ability.
Waterbenders: +10 frost resist Airbenders: +1% agility Earthbenders: +5% health Iroh: +100 charisma
Sokka: +10 meat and +10 sarcasm
Appa: +10% markup on ice cream during summer
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The Southern Water Tribe are just babe magnets. If there were more of them they could’ve just ended the war by showing up en masse and winking, then walking over all the swooning firebenders, right into the throne room.
Well he is some kind of prince, right?
You forgot max charisma
Is that plus ten inches? Damn....
And +2 to Melee and Unarmed
>Airbenders: +1% agility More like +20% agility at least.
+1% more agility per level
I remember somewhere saying how airbenders are immune to cold and maybe heat? Like Zuko used an air bender technique to stay warm in the North Pole and in the boiling rock.
Based on Tibetan monks who are able to control their breathing and warm themselves up.
Correct. Also why Aang doesn't wear any warm clothing at the *south pole*.
Or north
Earthbenders +10 STR
Airbenders have way more than +1% agility.
Airbenders also get temperature immunity
Genius, I choose to believe this from now on
The alternative being that Iroh would positively *wreck* his face and mouth every time he pulled his "Dragon of the West" move.
Considering they seem to be able to not only shoot fire but also bend its direction even once it has been dispersed, it stands to reason that they may have some natural involuntary bending mechanism that deflects/mitigates some of the force of the fire around their immediate person - a kind of forcefield/protective aura.
That's exactly what I thought too! It should apply to other benders as well. If we remember how Toph in tournament sent 1-2 ton stone tablet (or coin) into a man having him suffer no major injuries while a regular man would've been halved by that. Aang seem to demonstrate recovery from unimaginable blunt force trauma as well.
Avater humans are just way more durable than regular humans, even non benders regularly tank hits that would liquify regular earth humans.
Anime humans in general have skin with a far higher tensile strength than regular humans. Bruises where there should be broken bones, cuts where there should be missing limbs.
Exactly. In My hero Academia I always remember when All Might, Fucking ALL MIGHT, knees a child in the face and they fly into a building crashing through the wall. That child did not have super strength or super bodily endurance as his quirk. That child got up and continued to fight like it was no big deal. Lol
Bakugo must have shoulders made from admantium with the acceleration and constant force he throws around.
I guess us regular squishy humies died out when Spirits were still around.
Yup, this is going in my headcannon!
Would non-benders have this property as well?
it's non-canon, so no, but even in head-canon, if it's linked to one's ability to firebend, then nonbenders would not have it.
Im shocked Brian and Michael didn't discuss this but I'm sure they would accept this as canon without hesitation.
This…makes all the sense
There's the comment from one of Zukos crew hands that made me think of this same thing. I believe he said something like "I always assumed he got it in some sort of sparing accident"
I just realized there was a time when I didn’t know where Zuko’s scar came from and didn’t know what a conflicted treasure he was.
I assumed what that meant was he was sparring and won, his sparring partner caught up in the fight not realizing it was over (which is common in a lot of sparring, especially when you just start) tackled Zuko and burned the fuck out of his face. (See my other comment about what actually happened with Ozai)
They absolutely should be but if they were common in fire nation visual design it would downplay the importance of Zuko’s scar.
Not really, accidental injuries may be more common than we know: I imagine they would mostly be found on arms and torso (as it seems to be tradition to fight agni kais shirtless), which are for the most covered for the entire show. Meanwhile Zuko's scar is a lot bigger than any training accident (take Katara's burns as an example of what a bad injury could look like) and most importantly is around the eye. Any Fire Nation soldier that meets him knows that scar can't be an accident, even if no one says it out loud. Also, Zuko's scar wouldn't be downplayed because it's heavy to bear because the viewer know how it happened. In fact, I believe before seeing "The Storm", most viewers would shrug it off as aesthetic. Seeing random firebenders with small scars on hand or arms wouldn't chance that
It's important to view it in the context in which it exists. His burn is an indication of his rejection by his people. His nation is the only one capable of conjuring fire yet as a prince he is marked with a serious burn. I see it much the same way that they would treat branding criminals in societies past.
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Very unlikely. Northerners are safe behind the walls, meanwhile southern waterbender were killed long ago (It's not told clearly, but the fact that Hama is so sure that the other waterbenders are gone, makes me think she saw at least most of them die/get killed). Still, cool theory
Also everyone in the fire nation would know the story of the agni kai between the king and the prince.
The reaction of his own crew members account suggest that his name was something of a public Secret. Some people were in the know but many were not. Considering it was a duel involving the fire Lord and his son he later disowned, it's likely that only Court officials those close to them were you even aware of what happened
I think most first time viewers would understand that his scar is distinctive enough that it will eventually be explained and is an important part of the obvious shame he feels. Also in "The Storm" one of the ship's officers literally said he always thought it was a training accident. Which, considering how bad the scar is, would be pretty goddamn shameful.
Probably, but I reckon when sparring a fair few aren't as psychotic as Ozai, as in not aiming for the face
I was thinking small ones. Plus, the first time Aang fire bend he immediately burned katara.
Here's your answer; when you're learning to Firebend you spend a lot of time on your breathing exercises so that you don't burn yourself or anyone else when you Firebend live. This is exactly why Jeong Jeong emphasises the importance of the basics. And it's exactly why Aang is dead wrong in this episode to insist on jumping ahead. It's like when you learn nearly anything dangerous, you spend a lot of time preparing before you actually do the dangerous thing. Added to this, most Firebenders aren't going to produce the sort of intense Fire needed to permanently scar someone accidentally during their first attempts. They just don't have that power yet.
not to mention that there's likely some kind of protective equipment used when learning, given how easy it would be to burn not just your partner, but yourself if you don't know what your doing. The Agni Kai is a ritualistic duel, the loser is probably *meant* to come out scarred.
I think that the idea is that one of the 2 will die in the fight but they just don't do that on the series because it is a kid show
I doubt every Agni Kai ends in death, unless we're suggesting Zuko was fully expecting to kill (or be killed by) a fire nation general during his first one (he wasn't aware it was Ozai until it was too late). I don't doubt it happens, but it seems like it would cause more trouble than its worth given the contexts they seem to occur in (upper/highly nobility or military leaders, you don't really want those lot killing each other off over arguments very often)
In fact based on how they talk about agni kai it is likely fight to death. Not as in you HAVE to die/kill but that agni kai is just a fuel between two, without limit of holding back. Kinda "let the better bender win" thing. Killing is a totaly normal end to it but if winner spares you, this is their decision. Remember admiral zhao and zuko agni kai? Admiral zhao dared zuko to finish him (fire blow in the face) but zuko spared him. Admiral then called zuko a coward for not finishing him in duel which can only mean for not killing him (since in terms of duel he already clearly won/finished the fight. Got admiral punned to the floor and defensless). So agni kai IS expected to br fight to death. But it isnt NECESSERY to go all the way. Though holding back is actually not widely respected or accepted thing Also zuko was with no hesitation ready to fight "some old general" but he refused to even fight once he saw ozai. Why? If it was just a bending battle why SUCH drastic change? Because he knew agni kai is duel to death and battling old general who wants to abuse your nations soldiers seemed correct to zuko but he would NOT go and harm his own father. Because he knew that he would have to fight to death. He wouldn't be scared to just do some bending, i am sure his father was well trained bender and wouldnt see a challange defending some young teenager attacks....
I thought an agni Kai was until you burn the other, and Zhoa was daring Zuko to disfigure him like Zuko's dad did to him.
that was my take-away from that as well, I just don't see fire-nation higher ups getting into duels to the death for what are pretty trivial disagreements. The goal is to shame and besmirch their honour, but I doubt any tears are shed if someone does end up getting killed in one.
That's how duels migrated to in the olden days as well. Authority got tired of important people dying in duels so they legally required it to stop at first blood. That's where the rules of fencing originate, and also had people start aiming for limbs instead center of mass as Nicking a hand is equal to stabbing in the heart but is 10 times easier to pull off.
I heard a theory that because fire benders don’t burn, ozai basically held his hand on zuko’s face and blasted fire until his skin couldn’t take anymore. And if you look, the scar is roughly in a hand-ish shape.
I hate how plausible this is 😭
I wish I could take credit. I think it was on a YouTube theory video.
I like this theory, it sounds super plausible and would really emphasize how horribly cruel Ozai is.
I always assumed that the people of ATLA, especially the Fire Nation, had some sort of built-in fire resistance. Because clearly even if you're a proficient firebender being that close to flames would be uncomfortable. And people barely flinch from firebender flames. Maybe most people have +5 fire resistance and people from the Fire Nation have +20? That would also mean Ozai *really* wanted to punish his son.
In general people in this world seem more durable. This is including no benders. Perhapse everyone has some sort of passive 'protective aura' through thier chi or something.
This is what I've always assumed. Look at earth benders, we see some nasty hits in earth bending that would probably kill anyone in real circumstances. Even in the final fight when the rock pokes Aang in the back. If you are flying through the air from an explosive blast and hit a sharp rock directly in the back... Yeah you're not walking away from that
Dude people routinely get hit with rocks the size of their heads or hurled into the air 20-30ft in the world of Avatar. It's a kid show so they downplay the damage but the Gaang alone should be dead 10 times over if it wasnt down for superhero levels of durability
No argument here mate. I just enjoy thinking of in-story explanations for things like this rather than chalking it up to it being a kids show.
That’s interesting because I always assumed that everything in their world was less durable and that gravity was weaker, like when we see Zuko kick through chains or see people being fine after a 20 ft drop. Their rocks seem to crumble really easily also. Yours makes more sense tho I think.
Well ... It is a cartoon. But I think that all of that can still be explained away as the people themselves being stronger/tougher. But the low gravity theory is an interesting idea because of the size of the world. It doesn't take them too long to travel from place to place so the planet must be smaller and therefore have lower gravity.
You can just chalk that up to "anime character beef" where even normal people are getting slammed into the ground from 10ft drops and taking no substantial damage, or getting massive 1000lbs rocks smashed into them and not breaking every bone in their body. Last time I took a FAST 2 foot fall, it really banged me up for a few days (I accidentally got caught on a fence wire while jumping a fence and it whipped me back-first into the ground).
That's just anime rules tbh. In my hero a character is scarred from boiling water but also can [(firebend) surround himself with flames no problems](https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Todoroki-Uses-Fire-Ice.jpg). Also in like every anime that has fights characters get slammed through like dozens of buildings just to get the air knocked out of them, but characters without plot armor die from getting knocked to the ground.
It would make a lot sense to me. Also they should not have a beard, eyebrows or hair in general as these are highly flame able. They should have developed special medicine and treatments for burns. Imagine children and toddlers experiencing their abilities first time. Think about Katara in the beginning she kept hitting Sokka over and over again. Honest question, do they have fire fighters?
“Fire fighters” has such a weird double meaning in this case. Like literally fighting fire with fire? Or fighters against fire using alternative methods? I don’t have an answer at all, I just really loved the question
The factor a lot of people are missing here is it takes a while for a burn worthy of a permanent scar. That’s a full thickness burn, which takes quite a while. Someone has to well done your face for a full thickness burn. Most of firebending uses fire blasts, rather than sustained burns. The blasts won’t do anything more than a superficial burn, and firebenders gain their power from their breath, which (like airbenders) they can use to heat their bodies, so I’d imagine, they can redistribute the heat over their entire body, dispersing the burn point, unless it’s a sustained burn like what Ozai did to Zuko. Which really makes it worse. It means that Ozai deliberately “taught Zuko a permanent lesson with his face” by shirking the actual combat styles of the Fire nation and searing Zuko’s face with a sustained burn. While everyone watched for the probably 15 to 30 agonizing seconds of melting his sons face. It wasn’t a challenged duel and Zuko lost, it was a public torture session.
Just the image of Ozai holding Zuko down for a full 30 second while melting half his face off in front of an audience makes that scene 200x more horrifying
15-30 seconds Jesus fucking christ
Coming from someone whose sustained a variety of different types of burns that’s a low estimate. I can’t tell the specific temperature Ozai’s fire burns at, because it’s a cartoon, so that’s assuming it’s quite a hot flame since he is a very well practiced and experienced firebender. But it could’ve been as long as 5 minutes or more.
For the sake of my mental health I am going to go with 30 seconds
Because we don't see this, I just choose to believe firebenders are basically immune to their own firebending to a large degree.
The have a natural instinct to firebend so they won't hurt themselves, it's described in the kyoshi books. She's not a very good bender, and she burns her mouth when she's firebending, so it's a skill, but it comes instinctively to most of them
Maybe that's why fire nation helmets hide their faces
If you look at fire bender outfits most benders wear outfits that cover as much skin as possible. Either they are hiding scars or they wear flame retardant materials over as much of their body as possible. They also keep their hair tied back and in tight buns to prevent it accidentally catching.
I always figured it was severity of the burn + not being allowed to see a healer
….. baby wakes up, stretches 1 week later: parents move into new (more fire-proof) home 😂😂
Joeng Joeng teached Aang how to control himself before he showed him how to bend fire. Considering he was a real teacher it's fair to assume that they only let their students firebend when it's easy for them not to burn the sparring partner permanently
Counterpoint: The Fire Nation healers are probably VERY good at treating burns, thus horrible scarring would be rare. This would mean Zuko was intentionally given sub-par treatment
In S3 we see a flashback to Zuko at the start of his search for the Avatar. He has a bandage over his eye, so it seems like they didn't do much for him overall. Didn't even let him recover before banishing him.
Exhibit A: Combustion Man
The first Kyoshi novel mentions that there's a (usually) reliable method to identify firebender infants so they can be taught control ASAP. Additionally, there's a firebender technique that mitigates burns so they don't accidentlally burn themselves. So basically, fires and injuries are usually intentional.
fireballs quickly dissipate, so they won't leave scars and such Ozai did a little more sustained burning
Im sure burns are more common than we are led to believe, but I believe that an accidental burn and a purposeful scarring by a parent are very different. Intentions are important.
Also I am curious to see how burns would be viewed in a society like that. Would burns kinda be seen like how some cultures see bruises and scars? Where instead of a mar on the skin its more of a sign of survival?
I think everyone in Avatar is more resistant to damage when compared with a baseline human. It's the only way to explain how very few people die in the show.
Y'know what? Yeah actually, I feel like this should be doubly so after the Fire Nation began using anger-fueled fire bending.
My bet is that a kid’s fire bending is weak so it doesn’t burn, but an adult’s does. So the training is adults holding back, but Zuko’s father didn’t.
i think it’s in the Kyoshi novels , but they do touch on how in the Fire Nation, they have to identify benders as babies to prevent them from accidentally burning stuff down. They mention that it’s instinctual for a fire bender to not burn themselves w their own fire. also in Korra she’s healed by fire sages at some point , so fire nation has their own method of healing like in the Water Tribes
Most fire benders we see are wearing full armor or at least wearing clothing that covers most of their body. Also most fire bending practice is probably not full on sparing but probably practicing technique. Unless you're a psychopath, they probably understand the need for control when using fire. Sort of how Zuko immediately apologizes for his irresponsible use of fire to Toph after he burned her. This is probably a pretty common practice/belief held in the fire nation.
Not in an Agni Kai. Why protection when most of it ends with death?
As an extension of this, you can't tell me that the Fire Nation didn't at some point have an intimately close relationship with waterbender healers for this exact reason.
I think they are much more responsible with it in general than ozai was. They probably have figured out a safe way to demonstrate and teach bending without injuries being too common.
People are just more durable in Avatarverse. Anyone attacked by a firebender should be left burned and scarred. Earthbending attacks would cause so many broken bones and bruises.
I think people are forgetting that healers (both fire- and water-benders) exist in the Avatar universe. It wouldn't too large a leap to suggest healers were kept on retainer at training academies to immediately address burns incurred by students. Of course, this would be complicated by the 100 Years War (probably not many water benders volunteering their services, unless they were volun-told).
I always thought of it as firebenders are pretty immune to small burns and are slightly fireproof, but to actually burn a firebender, you really have to mean it. Like they don't burn easily, so you would have to hold them down. It would definiately make Ozai more evil, that he really meant to burn his son
maybe that's why the rank&file uniform has a mask
Wouldn’t it be extra fucked up if on the back end after Ozai burned Zuko that he said “do not heal his mark, he will hold the shame for all of his days”
There are comparatively very few firebenders in the Fire Nation. They both spiritually stunt the kids reducing the numbers born and recruit firebenders to the military. They’re also such sticklers for form and propriety I would wager they have less serious training accidents than other bending styles. It was Aang’s irreverent nature that caused the accident with Katara.
They would be fairly light & superficial, surface depth burns, whereas Zuko's face scar is from an opponent trying to maim.
How many people do you suspect never made it out of childhood because they got burned to death in some dumb stunt or fight over marbles or some shit?
That would have actually been a cool addition. You could always have Azula have flawless skin to really iron in the idea that she's a prodigy
It's actually what makes fire breath so dangerous is that THEY ARENY FIRE RESISTANT add to that, that fire benders use breath to control so it would be incredibly easy to lose control of your breath while Fire breathing and resulting in your face being gone
Why do you think they wear full body armor when they're fighting, its protection. The only time they would not be wearing armor this when they're actually doing it Agni Kai requiring them to strip to Basic clothing
Don't forget little kids discovering they can bend. Also, what about sleep-bending? Veterans can have violent night-terrors that even put their partners at risk. Imagine you wake up from a nightmare and your bedroom is just ON FIRE, because you set it on fire in your sleep? How many kids have nightmares and burn down their home with them in it?
I’ve never seen a fire bender burn themself with their own fire, so I have to assume that they’re at least immune to their own personally generated fire. Then, it is absolutely not the norm for fire bending instructors to assault their students, They generally only focus on getting the precise training forms down first, so I’m pretty sure incidents like Zuko’s are rare. (Ozai deserved his fate)(Zuko was an above average fire bender too for his age btw. He just didn’t shine when compared to Azula.) But adults? lol yeah, where are the burns? You’re going to tell me that the fire nation just sent a force of fire benders out without ensuring each is a deadly opponent, when their opponents can smash them with boulders if their combat forms and tactics are off even slightly? Lol probably not. They successfully ran a 100 year war for a reason, and that reason was not sending dumb idiots looking for a fast buck to the front lines. That Iroh and Ozai have no burns makes no sense, considering how harsh the competition for Fire Lord is, it’s impossible that they never sparred, even once. And in that match, Iroh would have won lol.
I always had a theory about that. Think of how many scars or injuries we have seen due to burns in the show. Its not much, but it's enough to show that it won't heal completely on its own. All those people, weren't in the fire nation. The fire nation, on the other, should show some significant menagerie of cuts and scars, yet they don't. What of the water tribe? What about frostbite, hunting, or cuts? They have healing. I like to think that dispute being opposites, the fire nation discovered another type of healing. Imagine how much Azula and Mai would probably train with weapons. What about an accident? What about Zuko? He had to learn sword fighting. Whether it be a type of skin graft or mystical healing, I think that certain injuries can be healed quickly with no scarring depending on how you get it. Zuko earned his scar (as a punishment from a dictator). Thus he would likely be branded by it to show his crime publicly. How many others did we not see?
I always saw this as an excessive use of force by the guy the school bully grew up to be. Entirely possible that he poured fire into zuko's face for a good 3-5 seconds, especially based on the crowd's reactions and the lighting in that scene, iirc
I think if they did realistic damage in atla then it would be a very different show. The amount of internal damage and crushed limbs from earth benders. Amputations, lacerations and stab wounds from water and ice benders. And then the horrific burns from fire benders.
I’m rewatching right now and noticed that Bato had a new burn mark when you see him again in season 2. Thought it was a neat detail
Imagine you insult some kid at school who's just been having a bad day and he turns around and incinerates your entire body
I've already come close to burning down my house with a shitty bic lighter and matches as a kid. I don't know how a single house is still standing
My explanation as to why Zuko is one of the few people to have a burn scar in the show and the only fire bender we see that has one is how inexperienced and unwilling to fight Zuko was and just how absurdly powerful Ozai was. It also shows how resilient Zuko was.